I think Valentine's Day is mainly for young people and after almost 26 years of marriage I appreciate more the love one can reveal through daily small thoughts, rather than striking displays of affection on a single planned day, but nevertheless, creating something for this occasion is nice and fun.

On the contrary, this year I've been faithful to my favourite colours, neutral and soft colours, and I've thought of making something different...I've decided to make a peculiar countdown board...every day you add a letter on the board till you complete all "Valentine's Scribble" words on 14 February.

My magnetic board had a natural wood frame, so I painted and distressed it.I printed this image on cardstock. I think its two birds and their nest represent perfectly not only a couple love but the greater and more profound love of the family.I fixed the cardstock to the board with double-sided tape.With the white acrylic paint I painted the stones (that I collected last Summer on Lake Maggiore shores) and the magnets and then I glued them together with hot glue.I wrote a letter on each stone with a thin brush and the dove-grey paint, but you can use litlle rubber-stamps, too

Everybody knows that I love chocolate and these muffins are really "chocolateful" and also very soft and tasty, so this morning there were none left in a jiffy! I must say that also my hubby and my daughter helped themselves lavishly!

I baked them with my daughter yesterday, following Laurel Evans' recipe that you can find on her sweet book "American Bakery", which I recommend if you aren't afraid of making an attempt on your figure!

The new year has started and I have many ideas and many projects to make, but before posting the ones I'm working on I want to show you last year most popular projects, the ones I loved making and you liked best...